What to Watch For: School of Amphicars Swimming to Put-in-Bay this Week

What to Watch For: School of Amphicars Swimming to Put-in-Bay this Week

Amphibious cars are cool and if you’ve never seen one in person, now is your chance. These rare, dual-purpose mobiles occasionally get together for what is dubbed a “Swim-In” and will be headed over this week for such an occasion aboard the Miller Ferry en route to Put-in-Bay and the rest of the Bass Islands.

While the entire 2015 Port Clinton, Ohio Swim-In lasts for a total of three amazing days, Tuesday, July 28th will see the first ever “3 Bass Islands Hat Trick Swim.” Once aboard the Miller Ferry at 11:45 a.m. in Catawba, the Amphicars will float to Middle Bass Island and from there, rely on their own amphibious abilities to swim to North Bass Island and eventually to Put-in-Bay.

This brings us to perhaps the most highly anticipated portion of this unique event, which is the lake crossing from Lonz Winery Marina on Middle Bass Island to Put-in-Bay Village public boat launch on South Bass Island. A waterway usually reserved for ferries, pleasure boaters, kayaks and Tall Ships will be replaced with a stream of unusual two-door Amphicars or what we like to call a one-of-a-kind bucket list photo opportunity.

So to celebrate this fantastic meeting of aquatic automobiles, let’s take a look a five lesser-known facts about the Amphicar.

1. Produced from 1961-1965, only 4,000 Amphicars were built. Despite the small number, it is still amongst the most successful amphibious vehicles of all time.

2. The original Amphicar Model 770 produced 43 horsepower, could achieve speeds of 7 knots in the water and 70 mph on land.

3. President Lyndon B. Johnson was the proud owner of an Amphicar and was known for frightening visitors to his Texas ranch by playing the old “malfunctioning brake” joke while slowly driving into his property’s lake.

4. Two Amphicars actually crossed the Yukon River in Alaska, while two others successfully crossed the English Channel enduring 20-foot waves and gale-force winds.

5. In Germany, the Berlin police department once used amphicars as part of their fleet.

For more information about the Swim-In please visit our events page. See you soon on island time!